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Biochemistry holiday newsletter, 2007

Page 1

December 2007
Dear Alumni and Friends of Biochemistry,
Greetings from Purdue's Department of Biochemistry! I hope this has been a successful year for all of you and that 2008 provides joy, hope and intellectual challenges. We have completed another busy semester and hopefully our students, staff and faculty will take time to enjoy the holidays before the "spring" semester (I recommend wearing long pants for the first week of class). There have been several changes at the top of the university administration this year. We have a new University President, France Cordova, who was trained as an astrophysicist and served as the Chief Scientist at NASA (1993-96) and the Chancellor at the University of California Riverside (2002-2007) before arriving at Purdue. Provost Sally Mason became the President at the University of Iowa and Vic Lechtenberg (Dean of Ag. 1994-2004) is currently serving as interim Provost until a national search is completed. With a new administration in place, a new strategic plan is not far behind, and it is clear that increasing student achievement and enrichment experiences will be a key priority. This university objective fits well with many of our departmental goals and approaches such as using faculty as academic counselors and emphasizing undergraduate research.
After serving the Department of Biochemistry for 30 years, Mark Hermodson J^ retired this semester (December 31). Mark generously devoted his time to J serving others, whether as Department Head, the Editor of Protein Science, or ^HW^ interim Director of Bindley Biosciences. He was always willing to assume more
than his fair share of administrative and teaching responsibilities and probably served on more Ph.D. advisory committees than any faculty member in the life sciences at Purdue. Mark and Sue plan to remain in town (at least for now) and hopefully Mark will continue to be active in the department's intellectual community. Sadly, I need to report that Barney Axelrod is in recovery from a major stroke that occurred last May. Barney has serious limitations but his daughter, Judy Weitzman, explains that he still maintains a wonderful sense of humor and assures me the family appreciates your thoughts and prayers. Henry Weiner and Esther visited Slovenia this summer to scout a site for his 2008 Carbonyl meeting which is scheduled for next July in Kranjska Gora, a Slovenian town in the Alps near the Austrian border. David Krogmann was honored to find that one of his previous publications on the history of photosynthesis research (Govindjee and Krogmann, Photosynthesis Research 80:15-57) was reprinted in a book published by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei entitled "Chemistry and Biology: the Transition Between Two Centuries." The Accademia dei Lincei is a highly respected international academy of science founded in 1603 and includes Galilieo as one of its earliest members. Karl Brandt will serve on the academic review panel for the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University in April 2008. The site visit is part of a required five-year review process. Scott Briggs was appointed to the board of directors of the Epigenetics Society, an international scientific society open to all those interested in any aspects of biological methylation. Vic Rodwell and Meredith continue to split time between West Lafayette and their condo in Clearwater, Florida. He is assisting Cynthia Stauffacher's group with enzymes and methods for high throughput screens of compounds that target bacterial HMG-CoA reductases.
Biochemistry Holiday Letter 2007 1
<2l

December 2007
Dear Alumni and Friends of Biochemistry,
Greetings from Purdue's Department of Biochemistry! I hope this has been a successful year for all of you and that 2008 provides joy, hope and intellectual challenges. We have completed another busy semester and hopefully our students, staff and faculty will take time to enjoy the holidays before the "spring" semester (I recommend wearing long pants for the first week of class). There have been several changes at the top of the university administration this year. We have a new University President, France Cordova, who was trained as an astrophysicist and served as the Chief Scientist at NASA (1993-96) and the Chancellor at the University of California Riverside (2002-2007) before arriving at Purdue. Provost Sally Mason became the President at the University of Iowa and Vic Lechtenberg (Dean of Ag. 1994-2004) is currently serving as interim Provost until a national search is completed. With a new administration in place, a new strategic plan is not far behind, and it is clear that increasing student achievement and enrichment experiences will be a key priority. This university objective fits well with many of our departmental goals and approaches such as using faculty as academic counselors and emphasizing undergraduate research.
After serving the Department of Biochemistry for 30 years, Mark Hermodson J^ retired this semester (December 31). Mark generously devoted his time to J serving others, whether as Department Head, the Editor of Protein Science, or ^HW^ interim Director of Bindley Biosciences. He was always willing to assume more
than his fair share of administrative and teaching responsibilities and probably served on more Ph.D. advisory committees than any faculty member in the life sciences at Purdue. Mark and Sue plan to remain in town (at least for now) and hopefully Mark will continue to be active in the department's intellectual community. Sadly, I need to report that Barney Axelrod is in recovery from a major stroke that occurred last May. Barney has serious limitations but his daughter, Judy Weitzman, explains that he still maintains a wonderful sense of humor and assures me the family appreciates your thoughts and prayers. Henry Weiner and Esther visited Slovenia this summer to scout a site for his 2008 Carbonyl meeting which is scheduled for next July in Kranjska Gora, a Slovenian town in the Alps near the Austrian border. David Krogmann was honored to find that one of his previous publications on the history of photosynthesis research (Govindjee and Krogmann, Photosynthesis Research 80:15-57) was reprinted in a book published by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei entitled "Chemistry and Biology: the Transition Between Two Centuries." The Accademia dei Lincei is a highly respected international academy of science founded in 1603 and includes Galilieo as one of its earliest members. Karl Brandt will serve on the academic review panel for the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University in April 2008. The site visit is part of a required five-year review process. Scott Briggs was appointed to the board of directors of the Epigenetics Society, an international scientific society open to all those interested in any aspects of biological methylation. Vic Rodwell and Meredith continue to split time between West Lafayette and their condo in Clearwater, Florida. He is assisting Cynthia Stauffacher's group with enzymes and methods for high throughput screens of compounds that target bacterial HMG-CoA reductases.
Biochemistry Holiday Letter 2007 1
<2l